Shorefront
by Shigan
Summary: The storm is over. Chloe has to live, grow and come to terms with the choice Max made for her. No one can stay angry forever as they all start to move on. Life is a long journey, and as she finds out, can be surprisingly whimsical and beautiful with the right people by your side. My attempt at a lighter and more realistic post-storm aftermath.


**Shorefront**

Chloe was nearly asleep when the the phonecall punched through.

Her textbook was beginning to feel like a leaden weight in her hands, her head was propped up by several pillows while she did her best to go on reading. The light from the otherwise humble table lamp, lovingly picked up by Max in a thrift shop, felt jarringly bright. She grimaced. The perky tune cut through the haze of nearly sleep as she fumbled to grab the phone.

"Hello, Chloe speaking," She replied in a half-yawn. A quick glance at the screen showed 1:36 am. Damn. Coffee combined with dinner had been a mistake.

The line was quiet. She frowned. It was way too late for prankcalls or salecalls. "Hello?" She repeated, slightly anxious. The voice on the other end surprised her, like a douse of cold water.

"Hello Price, I need to speak to Maxine." Victoria's voice was annoyed.

"...Ah hey. Max isn't here. She's on a trip and will back in a few days." Chloe replied. She stood up, having decided to give up her reading altogether for the night. She juggled her notes and a half-empty glass of soda while moving towards the bathroom. "You've tried her other line?"

"I tried, she's not picking up, so I thought I might as well call you." There was a paus. Even Victoria's pauses were filled with indignation, as if Chloe's inability to produce Max out of thin air was a personal offense. "This is surprising. I thought you were sticking to her like a lump of glue."

"Hah, funny." Chloe soured. Victoria was still a bitch, no matter what Max said. "I have classes. She has free time. Should be rather obvious."

"Still, it's rare for her to not pick up her phone. Where did you say she went again?"

"I didn't," Chloe retorts. "I know she was in Kyoto yesterday, but I think she's on the move. The wonders of a gap year."

Victoria must have heard the irritation in her voice. When she spoke again, her tone is more conversational, accompanied by bursts of static and the sound of passing cars.

"A gap year is a good thing, you know, especially for artists."

"Yeah, I know." Chloe agreed without resistance. She did not want to discuss the issue again and Victoria was the last person she would turn to. "Artists need to find new impressions and stuff."

"It does give you new perspectives of the things we capture beyond a lens. It should be interesting to see if it changes her photography." Victoria continued, as if she's actually having a conversation with Chloe, of all people.

Chloe grabbed her toothbrush and started the water. She needed a bath. She could still see some of the black, sticky oil they used at work between her fingers and she hoped her clothes had been spared. Engine grease was a nightmare to wash.

"Blah blah, arty stuff, I get it. Anyway, Max isn't here. Try calling in a week."

"I suppose. Good luck with your endeavours." Victoria said, for once being a diplomat.

"Yeah." Chloe replied noncommittally.

"Cheer up, Price. Sometimes, I really do wonder what she sees in you."

Chloe bit her lower lip and frowned. This was more like Victoria. A pristine exterior covering an interior of jagged glass, with or without the help of lackeys. She fumed as their junkheap of a heater finally kicked in and warm water met Chloe's hand. The stream burned, but not hot enough to distract her. Max was usually the one who kept in touch with other survivors from Arcadia, especially those few from Blackwell. Keeping in contact was always a mash of happy news and painful recollections. Victoria Chase in particular demanded a delicate approach Chloe simply lacked.

But really, two could play this game.

"How is Kate doing?" Chloe asked neutrally after a few moments of awkward silence.

She waited. Then with a click, the connection was gone.

...

Chloe woke the next morning to a bright saturday.

She performed her morning routines and got a light breakfast of coffee and bagels, freshly picked up from the small, homey shop around the corner. Living in a larger city did come with perks. She sippled the dark brew while a woman on the radio chatted on about climate change, hurricanes in Indonesia and early avalanches in the alps. Chloe listened with half an ear while going through her short list of tasks for the day.

It was mundane things.

Picking up groceries. Going for a run. Finishing the last chapters for her biochemistry course. God, she could almost hear her inner punk girl crying over the path her life had taken over the course of time.

It wasn't a bad thing. Not really. She missed the carefree days of driving endlessly through the countryside or baking her mind numb before lunch, but that was before she had joined survivors to pull mangled children out of rubble. That was before the storm. Living through the disaster of Arcadia Bay had mellowed her attitude while certainly hardened her in other ways. Her beanie had been given to a small, dirty girl to ward against the cold while they watched them pulling out her mother. There simply hadn't been any time to mourn the transition. Other things took priority, like digging and searching for other survivors, learning first-aid side-by-side from a nurse and simply getting up every morning to eat and breathe and go on for another day had taken her everything. Watching Joyce cry after being told she was going to lose her leg had been the final straw. Chloe woke the day after her mother's surgery to find that she had lost her cigarettes. She never replaced them.

Then there was Max, who made everything possible.

Max, who sacrificed so much more to the storm. Her friend, who had carried on working with them, wide-eyed and silent in obvious pain. Chloe had often found her friend atop a heap of debris with camera in hand, her eyes hard in silent contemplation while she watched the broken landscape of her childhood home, her lips moving but making no sounds, her eyes open, but unseeing.

It was such an easy thing to forget, but Max had once run through and played and grown up Arcadia Bay with her parents too, she had loved the sea and called the town her home. Unlike Chloe, she had never grown to hate it.

At those moments. Chloe would call Max's name, take her hand and lead them back to their shared tent. She would try to huddle the girl until Max fell asleep or her duties called her away. Max parents arrived on the same day as the first wave of first responders. It had been such a relief for Chloe to finally see her friend cry.

Weeks had become months. The discussion about rebuilding the city carried on and on and seemed to gain no traction. Chloe stopped listening as she packed what little she still owned and followed Max to Seattle. There were no community colleges around Arcadia and Seattle was as good a place as any to get her GEDs. It had been a difficult choice, but one that in the end was ok. It made her and the people around her ok. Somewhere in the far back of her mind, Chloe remembered being good at school. She remembered William's love for engines and her own fascination with birds and aeroplanes.

From the ashes of all the suffering and an increasingly disconnected Max, Chloe begun to build herself anew. Max had given her a chance and she might as well use it. She kept the hair and clothes and her love for loud parties but reluctantly let the rest go.

When Joyce showed her an accountbook William had opened in Chloe's name many, _many_ years ago, Chloe simply sat down by her mother's new kitchen table and cried in gratitude.

She would go to college.

...

If Max had been a normal, shy girl going through a period of difficulties due to trauma, Chloe's life would have been easier. Sadly, Max was not. She was something… _else_. Chloe had to pause every time her mind tried to rationally frame the bounds of what Max had become, and found neither words nor logic. It was the stuff of fantasy novels and comic books, but real.

The novels always made it seem to easy when the hero came into their power. There was always a school or a secret society to catch the young protagonist while they made friends and learned their craft, a kind and grey-haired old wizard would be there to show them the ropes.

Max had no one.

Her gift left her with the aftermath of a national tragedy and the corpse of a town. But it also left her with Chloe.

...

Chloe used to have nightmares about herself standing by the cliff, beneath grey enraged skies and shredding cold rain. She used to dream of Max never making it; of something going awry or horribly wrong and she was left alone to watch the storm as it consumed everything. She dreamed of better things too, of Max asleep in her room, of them swimming as children or awkwardly kissing in the sleepy morninglight. She dreamed of Max dead, stolen by Mark Jeffersson or shot by Nathan, or just simply killed by dumb accidents like her father, again and again. She dreamed of Joyce and David dying too.

Those nights, Max would shake her awake as she cried out in her sleep, sobbing hysterically. Max would gather her as close as she could and they would tell each other pirate stores.

There were other nights when Max simply would not sleep. She would wander back and forth between rooms, make tea only to forget to drink it; she would heat food only to throw it away. Many times she would sit listlessly and watch movies, or simply stare down at her hands, opening and closing them over and over.

They must have watched The Girl Who Leapt Through Time a thousand times by now, they'd picked it up in a music store with an anime section. It was the closest Chloe could get to understand what her friend had to go through to divert fate. Max likes the summery, upbeat atmosphere of the movie but hates the scenes when the protagonist falls through the world of numberstrings and cogwheels to go back in time. It's nothing like that she tells Chloe, it is not overwhelming or chaotic and there's certainly no sense of falling involved. Max describes it more like trying to catch and pull a wave in the open sea. The wave is moving away in the opposite direction, but if you pull hard enough, it will twist and turn back towards you; if not careful the wave might hit you with full force, and only then would you realize that you've been pulling the sea all along.

Would that be dangerous? Chloe asked. Max had stayed silent and merely looked at her. She did not know. Could anyone stop the sea?

Chloe no longer jokes about Max using her powers to make the world bow.

...

If Max had been a normal girl with no powers at all, she might not have made it. Chloe realizes this now when she thinks back of the first year when the brunette had lost twelve pounds by sheer apathy alone. Her parents had troubles getting her to eat or go to her new school or during some days just to leave her room. She no longer wanted to go to hockey games with Ryan and Vanessa had worriedly told Chloe she was avoiding her Seattle friends.

They noticed Chloe fared better and let her step in when their own attempts failed. The Caulfields hadn't changed at all, they were such good parents.

Chloe started to do her homework in Max's room. She dredged through english and mathematics while Max stringed her guitar or sorted through her albums of polaroids. Sometimes, they would study together. On weekends, they would take long walks together while Max took photos of absolutely everything which Chloe hoped was a sign for the good. Max's photography was still bright and confident and caught the eye of her teachers and peers. When not taking pictures, Max would hold Chloe's hand. They would go back to Chloe's apartment and Max would refuse to let it go.

Thus, Chloe learned to cook dinner and change clothes with only one hand, slowly and patiently. She also got used to falling asleep with Max draped literally all over her, or on a bad night when she had to let Max go, because the younger girl would wake up screaming and pushing away all forms of physical contact while sobbing about needles and 'him' still being there, touching her.

On those nights, Chloe would pull out some old comics or storybooks from when they were children and read them aloud, her voice and presence being the only things left she had to offer.

...

It took a long time until they could have any sort of relationship. That was such a new and strange thing to Chloe, who was used to open flirtations and a fast game with very straightforward, pleasant results. Max was inexperienced at best.

However their natural intimacy was as strong as ever. Everything Chloe needed to say had already been said on the cliff when she thought she was ready to die. There was no need for shy courtship or awkward coyness from any of them. Max knew exactly where she stood, about how Chloe felt and a shitload of other pretty embarrassing things. Max too had pretty much laid all her cards on the table.

There had been no real need to ask each other out. Both knew, and in Max's case knew perhaps a little too much.

Max kissed Chloe again, ten months after their first kiss and almost nine months after their move to Seattle. They were sleeping in on a sunday morning. Dapples of sunlight had danced across Chloe's skin as the dim curtains rustled in the breeze. The air had smelled like rain and grass and Max's hair as the smaller girl laid curled at her side. It had been good night for both of them.

The brunette had pushed herself up to a sitting position beside Chloe and looked over at her with sleepy, dark-blue eyes. She remembered her chest tightening at the blurry, warm sight of her friend. She remembered the sudden flash of tightness in her chest. Then, Max had lowered herself in tender composure as if wanting to give Chloe a chance to stop her; she took a shaky, nervous breath, then pushed their lips together.

The sensation had been akin to hot, rushing water, intense, delicate and full of joy. Chloe remembered slipping her arms around the brunette's waist, pulling the smaller body down gently like one would cradle a bird. She remembered Max's body go completely soft against her.

There had been a dare once she remembered, and at long last Chloe dared to kiss Max back.

...

Kate shows up at Chloe's door the day before Max is supposed to get home. The timid girl looks good. Dressed in a loose, high collared blouse out of white cotton, newly pierced ears with golden droplets and dark, snug jeans, she was starting to look positively chic. She lit up at the sight of Chloe.

"We're taking you out."Kate stated.

"Really?" She deadpanned.

"You need a life even on your own, Chloe." The shorter girl stated. "I know things have been difficult for you this semester, but you can't be moping around just because your girlfriend is away."

"Hey now. I do plenty of stuff without the Maxster."

Kate smiled at that. Chloe didn't know when she and Kate grew to be friends. It had happened naturally as the other girl dropped by from time to time to visit Max. She had been vary of Kate at first, fully expecting a shitty religious tirade about her and Max's relationship. Instead, Kate had comfortably accepted them, maybe because of her somewhat well-grounded adoration of Max. Ancient holy texts aside, Kate did want her friend to be happy.

Chloe didn't known then, but according to Max, Kate had left her church group not long after the storm. She still kept her personal oaths, but had perhaps lost some faith in the community surrounding their practice. Chloe wasn't surprised though she imagined how difficult that decision must have been for someone growing up like the sunny-haired artist. Having gone through the vitriolic crap sent by some members of her church group, the condemnation and finger pointing, it was easy to see her decision. Both of them were relieved when Kate decided to go to college in Seattle on a scholarship.

"Come on Chloe, we're going to Discovery Park. The weather's really nice, and I _know_ you like the lighthouse there." Kate continued happily. "Besides, we can get crepes."

It did sound nice. Spending a day with Kate seemed so much better an alternative than another one-hundred pages of organic chemistry. She didn't reflect further over Kate's words until they were making their way to the parking lot.

"Wait, did you say 'we'?" Chloe asked. They rounded the corner to the sight of a familiar, white lexus. Chloe rolled her eyes. Victoria always looked annoyed no matter the day or occasion, the neatly cut coat just emphasized the effect.

Kate nodded. "It was her idea, actually. We wanted to go to the park to do some shots anyway."

"Hello Price," Victoria greeted, giving Chloe a small nod as they all got seated in the car.

"Hey," Chloe replied noncommittally with a slightly awkward wave, not really knowing what to make of the other woman.

The trip to the park went by uneventfully. Chloe remained mostly in the backseat with her cellphone out, listening as Victoria and Kate chatted amicably. Now and then, she would cast the unlikely duo a glance.

Both attended the same university though in different programs. Victoria was doing double majors in photography and art history while Kate was doing a degree in media arts. It was so strange to see them chatting on about school and various other subjects, Kate happily sharing her days and Victoria responding genuinely in soft, polite interest. Now and then, the short-haired girl would glance over at Kate when she thought the other wasn't looking.

Chloe didn't really know how things went down in Blackwell but she knew the part Victoria played in Kate's breakdown. By a twist of fate, the storm had thrown the them together at the hospital. Kate had pulled Victoria and a severely injured Taylor into safety in the lower basement. They had huddled there together as the storm shredded half the upper building to pieces.

A year later, Kate had sent Max a selfie of her new campus with none other than a very indignant looking Victoria in the background. Time was truly the best balm.

They parked in the north end of the park and decided to follow the beach trail, working their way slowly towards West Point. Fall was fastly approaching and the wind was picking up, the first hints of yellow topped the leaves. They passed couples and a group of laughing, playing children running between the thick trees. Victoria had brought her camera and way too many lenses, making Kate giggle when she tried to balance all of it together with a custard filled crepe.

Kate ended up holding both their crepes while Victoria took shots, the latter occasionally taking a short break to grab a bite from Kate's hand to not get any custard on her super expensive camera. Chloe, who was enjoying herself, interjecting now and then in the conversation stopped to stare.

Victoria froze when their eyes met, on her face was an expression of pure panic.

She coughed badly, earning herself a clap in the back from the shorter girl. The short-haired blonde excused herself quickly after, wanting to get closer to the lighthouse to get better shots. Chloe crossed her arms and looked pointedly at Kate.

"Oookay, that definitely just happened." She said amusedly.

Kate tilted her head innocently. "Victoria eating a crepe? Yes, it does happen. It's a rare occurrence indeed."

"Don't be coy, Kate. I had my suspicions but wasn't ready to see it." Chloe smirked. "Are you going to tell me about it?"

The shorter girl deflated a bit, her face was pensive when she spoke. "I wish there was something to tell. We're not…. anything, if that's what you're going to ask."

"Kate, I just saw Victoria _Chase_ , right now, literally eating out of your hand. That's one hella big _something_."

"It's a something which neither of us are quite ready to acknowledge, even less act upon. Can I leave it at that?" Kate watched Victoria's shrinking figure from afar.

Chloe nodded. She could respect that. "But really, damn, I would never have guessed."

"She has been very supportive since I moved here. I never knew she was capable of such kindness." Kate continued thoughtfully. "I felt a bit lost after leaving home. Max and Victoria were pretty much the only people I felt like I could reach out to, even if Victoria might not have been my first choice."

Chloe remembered. Kate had been a welcomed guest in both Max's and her home, back when Max was still living with her parents. Having regained her vigour and confidence in her work, her presence had always made Max very happy. Kate was a constant reminder of her power used right and true.

"I was a bit weirded out, but happy at the same time when she came looking for me on campus. She hangs out with all those people who're into fashion photography but I don't think she has any close friends. It made me feel a little out of it, so she started to help me pick out clothes. She even introduced me to some publishing people." Kate went on fondly. "But I wish she could be more honest about what she really wants, in contrast to what she is expected to do."

Chloe wasn't sure if she had a good answer for that. "And how about you?" She asked.

Kate looked over at her, shaking her head. "I made my peace with my faith and I believe in his work, but never again will I be held in contempt by people I thought my own for things beyond my power." She sighed, and when she spoke again her voice was firm. "Victoria is very well beyond my power, and I truly hope she'll stay that way. I will refuse to be punished for her if we choose to go down that way."

The sun broke through the clouds, casting the beach in a dim, bright haze. A flock of seagulls cried above, their wings unmoving in the wind. Kate and her fell into a slow stroll in Victoria's footprints, kicking at sand.

"I feel the same way about Max." Chloe agreed in admiration. "Wow, Kate. You've become strong."

"Max is stronger." Kate replied simply.

"I wish you both the best, truly, however it goes. And I hope you know what you're doing." She said earnestly.

Right then, Victoria turned their way and raised her camera. Chloe was hoping her plain jacket and tousled mop of half-dyed hair wasn't going to ruin the shot when Kate waved at the photographer, her face open in a huge, precious smile. The timid girl reached for the back of her head. Moments before Victoria's flash went off, Kate pulled out her hairpins and let her hair fall into a flow of sun-stained honey, bright in the sun and high to the wind. The look on Victoria's face said more than Chloe ever needed to ask.

As it turned out, Kate knew exactly what she was doing.

...

When Chloe got home that evening, she noticed something being different in the apartment. The change was momentaneous as she drew a breath and noticed the smell of cinnamon and flowery soap. She hurried into the living room.

"Max?"

She had exactly two seconds to register the patter of naked feet before one hundred twenty-five pounds of excited Maxine Caulfield crashed into her, throwing them both off balance and onto the floor. Max landed on top, their faces conveniently aligned. The next thing Chloe would register was a familiar, heartbreaking smile and the soft sound of her name, and that was the last thing she would think about in a long while.

When they finally broke apart it was long past midnight. Chloe reached for the bedlight and looked down at the girl beside her. She wondered if she truly deserved something so beautiful. Half-asleep, limbs spread and her body flushed from exertion and sex, the brunette drowsed happily. No longer embarrassed by nudity, she let Chloe admire her body in full; the smooth, tanned skin and breasts red from hard kisses.

Moments like this made Chloe stop while her chest burned. She wanted to again, but didn't want to exhaust Max further after a long flight.

"A penny for your thoughts." Max whispered while she snuggled closer.

"Not much." Chloe answered truthfully. "You mostly. I'm really happy you're home."

"Me too." She whimpered with a sigh. "It's only been two weeks but I really missed this. Missed you. How have you been?"

"Decent. I met up with Kate and Victoria today. We went to the park to help Victoria take photos, though I think they turned out to be mostly of Kate." She chuckled.

Max giggled. "They're so adorable."

"You knew this was going on? Did you rewind to find out?" Chloe asked.

"No doofus, I used my amazing deduction skills and the art of being a good listener. Victoria's been bottling this for quite some time now." Max filled in. "You don't need to become the hero of time to see that."

"Well call me captain oblivious then, I had very little clue."

"Your princess is in another castle, Chloe. Come here and hold me, please. I just spent a week sleeping and canoodling a full-body pillow with a blue-haired anime character printed on the case."

"Ok, because that is not creepy at all, Caulfield." Chloe laughed.

"When in rome…." Max yawned and reached for the quilt at their legs. "It was a present from the photography crowd at Kyoto university. Weird, but really nice people. I'll show you tomorrow."

They settled next to each other, Chloe's body literally encasing Max who sighed in content.

"I got picked for the exhibition." Max said after a few moments of silence. Chloe failed to be surprised. "It's going up next summer, in July."

"I thought you would. Your documentation of Arcadia Bay and its scope must have been pretty unique." Chloe replied. She doubted there even existed other photos of the storm and the initial aftermath aside from Max's. The press had been all over her because of them.

"It was so strange to see my shots up there together with stuff from Minamisanriku and New Orleans. They even had reeeally old pics from cities like Kobe and Tangshan, those horrible earthquakes. It's going to be called _When Nature Fall_." Max continued. One of her hands covered Chloe's and started to draw a slow, gentle pattern. "They said there might be a chance of them bringing the exhibition to the states."

"That's… incredible." Chloe said excitedly. It truly was, especially considering what it would do to Max's chances at internships once she went back university.

"I'm going to be known for my own storm." Max's voice fell into a somber tune. Chloe felt her heart sink at the statement.

"You shouldn't think of it like that. There's-"

"I know, Chloe. I'm not going there again." Max interrupted and squeezed her hand in reassurance. Both of them were sick of the grief. Chloe only needed to call Joyce to feel it. "Maybe I'll see it as my responsibility instead, to show what happened in Arcadia to the world."

"What? You mean like some form of self-inflicted punishment?" She asked worriedly.

"That's not what I meant." Max looked up and locked eyes with Chloe. "I want to show others the storm because I want to integrate it with the world, that will perhaps make it less personal in time. Maybe if it becomes a part of human history, I can finally learn to let it go."

"We still don't know if the rewind was the cause."

"No, we don't." Max agreed, her face suddenly sad though her voice was firm in determination. "But I intend to find out."

...

They had another three weeks together before Max's next trip, this time to San Francisco where she was entering another free-lance photo contest. Chloe planned to fly out over a weekend to join her and they were both looking forward to that.

"I feel like such a nerd." She complained one day over breakfast. "You're suddenly the one living this hip, exciting life while I'm stuck cracking books and fixing engines."

"Hey, nerds are hot, by your own admission." Max smiled at her sullen figure by the kitchen table while she stirred their eggs. "Besides, I'll be here cracking right with you when I go back to school. I hope it'll be less ominous than I imagine it to be."

"You'll fit right in. I mean, you've already been nominated in contests and have a big ass exhibition coming your way. They'll be all over you." Chloe said.

"I hope not. I think I'm over the groupie thing, _for life_."

"Sure. And I'll be sitting in my nerdy campus, texting you in panic to keep you distracted from all the suave hipsters who would otherwise totally candy trail you with flashy cameras." Chloe smirked.

"Yes," Max nodded sagely while she sprinkled the salt and some pepper into their steaming, red pot. "That is exactly what's going to happen. Woes be me, the dumb girl with way too many suitors."

"Spoilsport."

"Nerd."

"Geek."

"Guilty," Max giggled and threw a fond glance at Chloe.

"I'm serious, Caulfield, I already have to share you with the pillow-thing. No more can do." Max burst out laughing as she served their food. She made the best eggs, second only to Joyce.

They digged in and ate in a comfortable silence until Chloe tried to move some of her books to make room for the coffee pot. Max pointed to a few printed documents on the top of Chloe's pile while she sipped her first cup.

"So speaking of school, when are you going to tell me about these?" She asked pointedly while resting her cheek against a hand

Chloe blushed. "Not yet, but soon, I think. It's just a thought or more like a crazy idea. It's a lot of years and a lot of money, Max."

"You should hold on to that thought because I think it's a crazy good idea." Max said without a hint of hesitation.

The brunette went back to her coffee. Chloe paused and eyed her girlfriend suspiciously. A small bird landed on the rail of their tiny balcony, likely drawn by the smell of food and chirped at the couple curiously. When it became clear that Max wasn't going to elaborate, Chloe folded the MCAT registration papers neatly and tucked them in a safe place.

...

Chloe once asked Max if she still used her powers. She did after her girlfriend asked an old lady to step out of they way during a rainy day. Moments later, a speeding car drove by and soaked the spot they had all been standing in. On other days, Max would suddenly turn to look around, as if she had seen or heard something that wasn't there.

Max admitted she did use it.

 _I am learning._ She explained. _I have to because it is there._

 _I must use it to learn to control it, cautiously and exquisitely, because I will not have others become an expense of my shortcomings again, ever._

Chloe asked her then if there could be other storms, whereas Max simply replied that she no longer pulled at the waves.

...

Kate eventually sent them the photo Victoria took.

It was a _beautiful_ shot. Chloe stood with her hands in her pockets, looking contemplatively towards the blue waters of Shilshole Bay as if she was searching for something with a wistful expression. Kate stood beside her, happy, open and with her hair free, the shorter girl looked straight into the camera. Her body language was relaxed and the crisp white of her blouse made her look impossibly light beneath the clear sky.

Victoria's shot had captured Kate perfectly and Chloe realized the short-haired girl would never stand a chance, not with Kate growing to become the woman in the photo.

"They will be fine." They had been sitting together in the living room, admiring the colorful shots on her laptop when Max had spoken. "Just like us, one way or another."

Chloe squeezed the arm she had around the brunette's shoulders, relishing in the physical contact. The night had been good for both of them. Max was leaving again in another few days and Chloe's midterms were looming. She was saddened by Max's departure but in the far back of her mind, she knew things were going to be ok.

Sometimes when Chloe closed her eyes, she would still feel the bare sense of abandonment deep within. She could remember the sadness, the loneliness and the spitting rage she had spent so many years nurturing like shadows in her mind. But even so, she knew it would be ok. Max was going to be here, together with Joyce, David, Kate and even Victoria. They would fill her life even when she was alone and the rest she just had to figure out on her own.

Like herself in the photo standing by the shore, searching.


End file.
